Modern Widows Club Legendary Widow Award Winner
2020 Recipient
Margaret Owen
There’s no peace in the world until widows find peace.— Margaret Owen
London/ UK Margaret Owen is a UK based immigration and asylum lawyer, specializing in women’s rights. Her experience with widowhood raised her awareness of widows in conflict and AIDS-afflicted areas of the world, triggering her activism.
Margaret founded the first international organization to address human rights issues in the context of widowhood, Widows for Peace through Democracy. She’s also the founding member of GAPS-UK (Gender Action for Peace and Security). She is a regular participant at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women and consults with the UN on issues of widowhood.
Her commitment to human rights, specifically widows’ rights, is rooted in her understanding of the particular burden faced by widows. “I was conscious of how many women are bereaved because of conflict,” she noted, “and how many women are wives of the missing or the disappeared. We need to have widows’ voices at peace accords.”
Because of her decades of work centering the experience of widows and advocating for them internationally, Margaret Owen is truly a Legendary Widow.
Gender Action for Peace and Security (GAPS-UK)
IMAGE SOURCE: widowsforpeace.org
LEGENDARY
WIDOW ROLE MODELS
Coretta Scott King | January 2021
Civil Rights and Women’s Movement LeaderVeuve Clicquot | February 2021
First business women in the early 1800s to run an international businessEleanor Roosevelt | March 2021
First Lady of the U.S. and 1st U.S. Representative to the UN Commission on Human RightsOsa Johnson | April 2021
American adventurer, filmmaker and authorTerri Irwin | May 2021
Naturalist, conservationist, author and owner of the Australian Zoo in Beerwah, QueenslandJulia Child | June 2021
American cooking teacher, author and TV personalityBetty White | July 2021
An American actress, comedian, humanitarian, author and advocate for the welfare and health of animalsRita Marley | August 2021
GRAMMY-nominated singer also known as the “Queen of Reggae”, author, philanthropist and benefactor of countless humanitarian causes worldwideC.J. Walker | September 2021
Entrepreneur, philanthropist and the first Black woman millionaire in America
Faye Dancer | October 2021
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Players Association (AAGPBL) from 1944 until it folded in 1954, electronics technician and business owner
Cindy McCain | November 2021
American businesswoman, philanthropist, humanitarian, author and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture
Graça Machel | December 2021
Mozambican politician and humanitarian, the only woman in modern history to have served as First Lady of two countries and elected an Honorary Fellow of the British Academy
Harriet Tubman | January 2022
An American abolitionist and political activist. During the American Civil War, Tubman served as an armed scout and spy for the Union Army. A key figure in the National Women’s History Museum.
Rosa Parks | February 2022
An African-American activist in the U.S. civil rights movement, best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott. She was awarded the NAACP 1979 Spingarn Medal, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Congressional Gold Medal.
Queen Elizabeth II | March 2022
Queen of the United Kingdom. She acceded to the throne in 1952, at the age of 25. She is the longest-lived and longest-reigning British monarch, the longest-serving female head of state in world history.
Jane Goodall | April 2022
Primatologist and anthropologist, she is considered the world’s foremost authority on chimpanzees. Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and named a UN Messenger of Peace.
Mary Oliver | May 2022
American poet and recipient of the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.
Lady Bird Johnson | June 2022
American businesswoman, investor, and First Lady of the United States. Recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal.
Dominique de Menil | July 2022
French-American art collector, philanthropist, founder of the Menil Collection. Established the Carter-Menil Human Rights Foundation with former president Jimmy Carter.
Annie Edson Taylor | August 2022
American schoolteacher, first and oldest person to ride over Niagara Falls in a barrel.
Betty Ford | September 2022
First Lady of the U.S., outspoken advocate for women’s rights, and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Zöe Keating | October 2022
Canadian-American cellist and composer, TEDMED Talk speaker, Primetime Emmy Awards nominee.
Marie Jordan Speer | November 2022
Founder of Gold Star Wives of America.
Mary Magdalene | December 2022
One of the earliest followers of Jesus of Nazareth.
Te Ata Thompson Fisher | January 2023
Citizen of the Chickasaw Nation and a performer of Native American stories.
Tembi Locke | February 2023
American actress, TEDx speaker, and social activist.
Helena Znaniecki Lopata | March 2023
Sociologist, educator, and author.